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Sunday, March 4, 2018

Duggar-Style Water Balloon Fight

Another week has passed us by, and we're just one day away from another new episode of Counting On. Joy and Austin Forsyth have their first meal in their new home, while Jessa and Ben Seewald give Spurgeon Seewald his first haircut.

The siblings gather at the "big house" for a Duggar family summer tradition. While the kids are setting up the inflatable pool, Ben Seewald secretly fills up a bucket of water balloons and plans an attack. There are a few tears, but most of the kids enjoy the impromptu competition.

Are we going to be able to see any of Joy and Austin's Israel honeymoon trip? Their honeymoon was actually interrupted by the TLC interview that the couples did 3 weeks after their wedding, so they had to fly home from Switzerland, do the interview, then fly back to Israel.

Their trip to Israel wasn't really a 'honeymoon'trip but rather a mission trip with an organization called One for Israel which aims to teach Jewish people about Jesus (whom they already know) and convert them to christianity. It is a controversial topic, and the trip was probably not paid for by TLC and therefore not filmed so it will not be shown.

You mean remain officially undisclosed and not discussed, but out in the public for all to see, via their own picture posts! If you do something that you really believe in, you shouldn't be hesitant to talk about it!

For those accusing the Duggars essentially of covering up their controversial acts; they don't actually control what TLC finds acceptable to show on air. For all we know JA and Austin would have been happy to have the mission trip filmed but got a thumbs down from the production crew.

But on the other hand, the SOS mission trips got a lot of airtime, even though that organization is also controversial for focusing much of their efforts on countries that are traditionally Catholic, and so certainly HAVE heard about Jesus as well...

But I actually find it ironic that the Duggars get critiqued a lot on this blog for giving up so much of their privacy for the sake of the TV show and getting free rides from TLC. But when they actually do something significant while off camera, spending their own money instead of TLC money, they get critiqued for that, too! They can't win.

Anonymous 12:44 sometimes discussing controversial things is not wise. The show is produced and paid for by TLC, they decide what is presented. As far as talking about it in their private lives, I understand why they may choose to be quiet....they are public figures and can you imagine as young people having to stand against a a strong negative response would be difficult....actions speak louder than words.

This has nothing to do with the post lol. I just have to throw out a prediction that joy’s wedding coordinator (Laura, I believe) will start a courtship with John David soon 😄 anyone agree that that could be in the future?? I don’t know anything about Laura but if she is single.... :) time will tell :) God has a plan!

Nothing but hurtful bullying. He is an adult that should know better snd be a role model, not an instigator of hate. Kids can be permanently scarred from instances like this, where they are ganged upon, or cornered, picked on, had things thrown at them, etc. One child crying and he didn't even care and just continued acting like a juvenile delinquent,. I am shocked this kind of behavior would be condoned, especially in this family!

I don't think Ben intended to bully anyone. Water balloon fights can be fun, but only if everyone involved agrees to participate. Attacking unsuspecting children with water balloons is not very nice and as an adult Ben should know better.

I was at a get-together when I was 7 or 8 and someone (adult) thought it would be funny to start turning a hose on people. I was hit. It was painfully embarrassing and I cried and demanded to be taken home. I never forgot it. It's a cruel thing to do to anyone. I've always hated being in a group around water, and I'm sure that incident has something to do with it.

While I don't think anyone will be scarred for life, Ben's behavior was pretty juvenile. If there's going to be a water balloon fight, everyone should know it was going to start and if someone didn't want to be involved they should have been able to opt out, not be subjected to a "sneak attack".

If someone's permanently scarred by a water balloon fight, they have bigger problems. I agree, it wasn't mature of Ben to play that hard with tiny kids, but of kids can't handle a water balloon fight without being damaged, our world is a sad place! That's one of the problems with today's society-hour feelings and "poor pitiful me" feelings over everything.

I was picked on and bullied in similar ways when I was a child and can never forget it. It did scar me for life. It is cruel and should not be tolerated. I pray he matures and gains proper perspective and doesn't continue this kind of behavior. Kind of scares me he has kids of his own but acts this childish, abudive, and irresponsible! It is nothing short of both physical and emotionsl abuse!

11:23- The child crying was a toddler. She may have been hit by a balloon or frightened a bit by the other kids suddenly screaming and runnning around. Some children are more sensitive than others. It's never ok to dismiss their feelings. Little ones should have been taken away from the action.

I saw one child cry and yes that child was probably too young for this sort of play. There was no intention to harm, bully or scar them. Ben was being playful, a little reassurance and a hug and I’m certain the little one will be fine. Stop over-reacting.

I've been bullied as a kid and I still don't think Ben's actions here are the same as "bullying" and certainly not "abusive". Immature, certainly. But I don't think he was out to humiliate or scare anyone the way bullies do.

5:21 There’s a huge difference in “dismissing a child’s feelings” and saying that saying that children having a water-balloon fight around a sensitive child is not going to damage them permanently. Of COURSE you would make sure they’re ok and help them to understand as well as a tiny child can understand. And one of the Duggar girls did that. However, there comes a point when protecting the child from everything actually does more harm than good. Ben might have made a mistake, but saying that he’s a mean bully that’s responsible for a child’s permanent emotional scarring is taking it way too far.

3:52, I am 11:23 and I guess my comment was misunderstood. I don’t want an uncaring, unfeeling, society, but I never said that the child should be told to “get over it” and left without any comfort or explanation. Children learn from adults’ reactions. If the adult over-reacts (and there’s a difference in comforting, which SHOULD be done, and overreacting), the child might think that the situation is truly something to be frightened about. The opposite is also true. I knew a child who was across a parking lot from a train when it blew its horn. The child was frightened, but the parent quickly picked her up, explained it was nothing to be frightened of, and moved on. Today the child has no fears of trains or loud noises at all. In a similar way, I doubt the child in the video will suffer for the rest of her life because she happened to be in a situation that was scary for her as a toddler. I'm sorry my post was taken in the wrong way!

There are many different types and degrees of both physical and emotional abuse.... none of then are good or should be considered acceptable. And, IMHO, Ben should act his age, especially around young children.

No one can possible know the intent of Ben's actions butt Ben himself. A grown adult running around hurting and/or scaring young children is not ok and should not be acceptable behavior. This kind of attacking is instigative and harmful on many levels. Children that little could certainly be physically hurt, not to mention emotional abuse runs deep and can last a lifetime.

A better idea would have been to line up willing participants facing each other and letting them have a water balloon fight in which everyone had some ammunition. It looked silly to attack a peaceful group of children in the pool, many of whom were toddlers and didn't know what was going on. Really an attack on babies by older persons. I can't quite see why this seemed like a good idea to them.

I personally enjoyed seeing them all play as a family. They just look like a normal family. It reminds me of what we used to do as a family growing up. Accidents happen. I don't think Ben was trying to be mean or bullyish. I think it just startled the little one. My brother's used to do sneak water balloon attacks on me when we were kids. It's just normal playing. Sometimes I do wonder why there is so much nit picking, and being critical over the smallest things.

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Welcome to the premiere source for factual, encouraging updates on Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar and their 19 kids (TLC's 19 Kids and Counting & Counting On). Our site is not maintained by the Duggars, but we (Lily and Ellie) are personal friends of the family.